Comedian Louis C.K., who has brought us not only the Louie show but hours of comedy genius with specials such as Oh My God, Chewed Up, and Hilarious, might be at the top of his game now, but was it always like that? We've compiled a list of 12 things You Didn't Know About Louis C.K.
1. Louis C.K.'s screenwriting and directorial debut was none other than Pootie Tang, the 2001 movie starring Chris Rock, Jennifer Coolidge, and Lance Crouther, the actor who played Pootie who hasn't acted since. While the movie was a total bomb at the box office, it has since thankfully made back it's $3 million budget with DVD sales.
2. Louis is a dual citizen! The comedian was born in the United States, but he lived in Mexico for 7 years as a kid and still maintains his Mexican citizenship. He's also fluent in Spanish! In fact, he spoke Spanish almost exclusively until he was 7 years old, which means English is actually his second language.
3. Louis C.K. was actually the first comic to appear on Conan O'Brien's Late Night With Conan O'Brien show. Louis C.K. was thinner and had a fuller head of hair back then...but he's still the same hilarious comedian.
4. Before Louis C.K. found success as a comedian, he had a handful of odd jobs. Most notably, he was a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and would bring it home for Thanksgiving dinners.
5. Louis C.K. won an Emmy for his amazing Louie show in 2012, but it wasn't actually his first. He earned three Emmy's as a writer on the early HBO hit, The Chris Rock Show.
Click here to see Louis C.K.'s funniest jokes.
6. It wasn't until the third season of his FX hit show, Louie, that he decided to hire a professional editor. During the show's first two seasons Louis C.K. wanted to forego the studio's offer of editing equipment and a professional editor and he did it himself on his Macbook Pro at home. He wanted to use basic editing software that the average person would be able to easily get and use.
7. Louis C.K. was only 17-years-old when he first took the comedy stage. During his first gig, he was required to fill a 5-minute slot but only had 2 minutes of jokes. After he came up short, the comedian took two years off and almost quit comedy. Thankfully for us he didn't.
8. While we're sure Louis C.K. doesn't want us to harp on the movie, Pootie Tang, here's one more fact: Although he is credited as the director of the film, the comedian was actually fired at the end of filming.
9. Louis C.K. decided to forego the typical distribution model when he released his standup comedy special, Live at the Beacon Theatre, in 2011. Louis C.K. produced and directed Live at the Beacon Theatre himself, and decided to sell it exclusively through his website for $5/each. This was pretty much unheard of at the time, but it proved to be a giant success: Louis C.K. earned $1 million from sales of the special in 20 days. Since then, comedians such as Aziz Ansari, Bill Burr and Jim Gaffigan have done the same.
10. Louis C.K. doesn't like to take photos with fans. But that doesn't mean he won't talk to you. During an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, Louis C.K. explains that it's nothing personal, he just doesn't like photos. And then he goes on to tell a hilarious story of what happened when a woman asked for a photo when he was coming out of a restaurant one time.
11. Next time you watch the movie Role Models with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, look for an otherwise noticed scene with none other than Louis C.K. The comedian plays a security guard in the movie during one of the beginning scenes. Louis C.K. made an appearance in the film because he's friends with the director, David Wain.
12. Louis C.K.'s standup comedy album, Hilarious, was the only movie of it's kind to premiere at Sundance. It later won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 2011.
Click here to see more standup from Louis C.K.